Articles Tagged withCalifornia employment discrimination

In order to be successful in claiming employment discrimination in California, employees must first assert they are part of a protected class that received unfair treatment. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) explains that to discriminate means to treat someone less favorably and disparately, with federal protections extending to individuals on the basis of gender, religion, color, race, national origin, disability or age (over 40). In California, unlawful practices spelled out by the Fair Employment and Housing Act 12940 outlines protections for these classes, but also for:

Genetic information

Marital status

Gender identity/gender expression

Sexual orientation

Military or veteran status

Part of the reason California’s additional protected classes matter is they go farther than federal law, giving unfairly-treated employees more options to pursue action.

As Los Angeles employment discrimination attorneys can explain, “protected classes” aren’t merely limited to minorities. But employment discrimination is often subtle – and doesn’t necessarily need to actually be a part of a protected class in order to be protected. Discrimination based on the perception of belonging or association with others in these classes can be actionable in California employment discrimination cases too.

For many California residents, employment discrimination is an all too common part of life, with experiences ranging from subtle biases to outright threats, violence or loss of opportunities to advance.

Certain groups receive the brunt of this treatment more than others: Women, the elderly, people of color, LGBTQ community members, those from certain foreign nations or followers of some religions. But the discrimination compounds for people who fit more than one of these categories. This inter-sectional discrimination can be seen in particular among people in a racial minority group as well as the LGBTQ community.

According to a recent poll by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, NPR, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, people of color said they had been discriminated against at twice the rate as white respondents for being LGBTQ when applying for jobs, as well as in police interactions. Continue reading

Employers might be surprised to learn that the actions of an Airbnb host can affect policy and obligations created by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Nonetheless, that is the outcome of a particularly heated racial case arising out of Big Bear.

The Star reports that, in February 2017, Asian UCLA law student Dyne Suh had rented a cabin in Big Bear. The cabin had been rented from Tami Barker through Airbnb. After driving for hours through rain and snow, Suh received a text message canceling the reservation when she was only minutes away from the cabin. Barker wrote:

“I wouldn’t rent to u if u were the last person on earth”

“One word says it all. Asian.”

“This is why we have Trump”

“I will not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners.”

Suh, an American citizen and law clerk at the Riverdale County Public Defender’s Office, reported the case to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The Department ordered Barker to pay a $5000 fine, issue a personal apology to Suh, take a college level course on Asian American studies, complete community service at a civil rights organization, and report rental data to the Agency for the next four years. Airbnb also permanently banned Barker from their site. Continue reading

According to a recent news article from OC Weekly, workers at a major regional hospital were wearing red shirts with their union logo and holding picket signs. Their goal was to bring public attention to what they consider poor working conditions. The main complaint brought by the picketers was that their employer is using part-time labor and on-call staff to get around paying fair wages to the permanent health care staff.

At this worker demonstration, there were hundreds of employees gathered with picket signs. They also say that part-time employees are being hired and are being required to work full-time hours, but are not getting full-time employee benefits. Essentially, the claim is that the employer is acting improperly and unfairly toward the full-time staff and the new part-time hires. They also argue the part-time employment plan is not good for workers or the patients. They argue that having a dedicated full-time staff that is treated well is the proper thing to do. Continue reading

There is no question that having a criminal record can make it hard to get a job. Even if it is not an outright bar to employment, you will often find that when two similarly qualified people apply for a single position, and one of the applicants has a criminal record, and the other does not, the prospective employee with a clean record tends to get hired over the other.

With a felony conviction it can be extremely difficult to get a job, and this makes things even tougher for someone who is making an honest effort to rehabilitate him or herself. With a misdemeanor conviction, it easier to get a job, but not if the misdemeanor conviction is related to theft or a misdemeanor sex offense which is often seen as particularly bad by prospective employers who are constantly worried about being sued for creating a hostile work environment. Continue reading

A former worker at a Mexican food restaurant chain has been awarded $550,000 – which includes punitive damages – after a federal jury in Washington D.C. found she was in fact discriminated for her pregnancy.

Although the national chain, Chipotle, and its franchise owner had denied that it had fired the woman for her pregnancy, the jury opined this was in fact the reason for her termination from the job.

The case dates back four years. It was at that time in 2011 when plaintiff became pregnant while working at the fast-food restaurant. It was not long after she informed the manager of her pregnancy that he started acting out. He restricted her access to water. He also began giving her a hard time about bathroom breaks and informed her she needed to limit them. He even went so far as to say that anytime she needed to go to the bathroom, she had to announce it to every employee in the store, and further that he had to approve them so that her post could be covered. Continue reading